Car takes a dive into frog pond: Not the first

Early in the morning of October 7th, Kenneth Sears of Gilsum took an unexpected dip in the frog pond at the intersection of Main Street and Route 10, just before the Welcome to Gilsum sign. Police estimate that it was at approximately 3:30 AM Sunday morning when Sears, driving a 1993 Honda Civic northbound on Route 10, failed to make the turn onto Main Street. The car launched over a flower bed and traveled some 45 feet before landing in the middle of the pond, according to NH State Police officer Dan Brew. Only the rooftop was visible, but Sears somehow escaped unharmed. However, Sears was not the first driver to end up in the frog pond, and others have failed to negotiate the Stone Arch Bridge, with spectacular results.

Taking the middle road
In the 1980s Martin and Ina Mae Smith, formerly of Church Street, ended up in the pond after failing to negotiate the turn onto Main Street. Martin, new to town at the time, became confused as to which way to go at the intersection and apparently split the difference. In this case, however, only the front bumper of the car ended up in the drink.

Soaring over the Stone Arch Bridge

Others have driven off the Stone Arch Bridge into the Ashuelot River, though not all have lived to tell the tale. Long-time resident Lois Hastings, who until recently lived next to the Stone Arch Bridge, recalls an incident in the 1950s when an Aston-Martin went sailing off the Stone Arch Bridge. This was back when Route 10 still ran along the other side of the Ashuelot river on its way to Main Street. The vehicle ended upside down in the river and the man was killed.  "Ray Hasting always said that there wasn't an unbroken bone in the guy's body," says Gilsum resident Judy Peter, who lives across from the Stone Arch Bridge.

Peter recalls two other incidents at the historic bridge. "About thirty years ago a car came speeding down the hill.  It didn't go off the bridge but right beyond it, went through the air and landed flat in the river.  I can't remember time of year -- I think it was early spring after the ice had gone out -- but the water wasn't high." The two young marines in the car were on their way home from Quantico, Va.  "They had fallen asleep; no breaks were applied and the car flew."  Both were unharmed. "They were very relaxed--beer may have been a factor," she says, and were able to walk to the Peters residence, where Judy and her husband Ernest sat them down, poured them coffee and called the police. "As I recall, there were no charges--just a lot of thanks to the Lord that they were unharmed," she says.

More recently, within the last 10 or 15 years, a speeding car crossed the bridge west at some speed and ended up in the gorge.  "The driver got out and ended up, somehow, in the emergency room," Peter says.